The Winter Nightingale
by Beauty and the Tragedy
Summary: About the hidden story of one of the zodiac members who is nightingale and has been shunned due to circumstances. After a life of misery like the rest of them he finally finds his soulmate Beware of spoilers Plz comment/review. Hope you like it
1. Rain

雨 Rain

I hate the rain. Mainly because it stifles my voice, strangles it hard enough so I can't sing.

And without my voice I have lost the definition of my

existence.


	2. The Banquet

宴会 The Banquet

You all know the story of the cat, the rat, the ox, the boar, and the rest of zodiac. You remember the pain they suffered and how a blessing turned into a curse. Therefore I ask you to listen to my story and remember my pain…

Go back to the day when God invited all the animals to a great banquet. Everyone was delighted to be a part of this amazing event including the nightingale. The nightingale had an extraordinary voice no one could exceed, thus they all felt a small amount of jealous towards it. But the nightingale was never too proud of its voice, nor did it brag of it, it simply loved to sing. Its love for singing is what made its voice heavenly. The bird was not only loved for its voice but for its delightful appearance. God loved the nightingale and so did everyone else, it was the perfect being. Even though everyone felt jealously towards it, the emotion was never too great to hate the beautiful creature. There was never a reason to hate the creature.

At last, the great moment came for when all the animals would begin the race.

Ready

Set

GO!

And they all ran.

All except the nightingale. It had never learned how to run, and found it difficult to move swiftly with its weak legs so it flew. It flew through all the obstacles without breaking a sweat. When it came to the great river, which many of the animals could not cross, it simply flew over the stream and was the first creature to finish the race. No one had noticed it fly by, so when they all finished the race and discovered that they were a place lower than what they thought they were they were infuriated. At last they had all found a reason to hate the nightingale. He cheated! They all said, and God could not go against his creations. And so, even though God had loved the nightingale more than any other creature in the world, it was disqualified (although they had used a different term back in the day) from the race. They all sneered at the bird, and some even laughed; only the cat who had missed the banquet could sympathize with it. But the bird did not falter; it stood with its chin up in the air and said,

_As long as I have my voice. As long as I can sing I do not need anyone by my side. For singing is my one true love. _

After that day, none of the animals –including the cat— ever spoke to the nightingale again. It was invited to very banquet as a tradition and was treated with respect when spoken to, which was very rare, but behind its back everyone snickered and scorned him. Even God began to hate the bird it once loved so very dearly, and the cat simply ignored the perfect being. The nightingale was forgiven through words and was allowed to participate in every banquet, every year, yet the beautiful bird did not enjoy going there for it meant that the bird would face the eyes of hatred, indifference, and again suffer misery. The other animals began to look down on it.

_I'm much better off than this pitiful creature_

_Thank god, I'm not perfect. I would have to end up like the nightingale._

_My misery is much less than this poor little bird._

Yet the nightingale went every year to the banquet, and returned home only to cry, cry, and cry some more, and 'till this day it has never stopped singing.


	3. Wish

願い Wish

I took the bus home today again, like always, but today it was raining heavily. So my mood was much worse than usual. I am a Sohma but as I told you before, I am ignored by most of them. It is mostly the true followers and religious members of the Sohma family that refuse to speak to me. The story of the zodiac animals has become more of a legend now and most of the cursed members do talk to me, but it is I who has distanced me from them. I even chose a school far from them. I am almost 25 now, and I am studying the Arts in a college close by. Both drama, and vocals –don't you laugh at me-. There wasn't a chance of even asking the head of the family to go off to a university. It wasn't even worth the trouble, I've seen what happens to Sohmas disobey the head. It isn't pretty. Anyways, I took the bus again, and it was raining. Outside it was a pretty sticky weather, inside it was worse. The bus was over crowded, and not only was it sticky and damp, but it was hot in here too. I desolated myself in a corner seat where no one would bother me and my music, but I could not help but notice the situations of people around me, read people's fake smiles and flirting comments. Sometimes it was all too overwhelming, sometimes it was like a movie.

I kept the window open to avoid sweating, but as the small rain drops traveled their way onto my eyes I got irritated and shut it close. As the bus got emptier, I knew that the placed called _home_ got closer. I dreaded every second I got closer to that place. The Main House. I loved everyone there, and they had every reason to hate me. Akito-sama, my god, my deity, my angel, and my sanctuary. I had every reason to hate that person, yet my heart would not go against my god. She could hurt me, insult me, trash me, and yet I would not be willing to raise a single finger against her. It is probably the spirit of the nightingale that had loved the God so much in the past that stops me from harming that fragile person. When her angry took over her, and hands flew all over the place, I could see through the anger and simply hold her. But she did not regard me in the same way. It is just the same as before, and as always. God has forgotten me, and I am stupid enough to still love that being. Shigure-san, Ayame-san, and Hatori-san are casual when they talk to me, yet I know they give me eyes of indifference and ignorance behind my back. They aren't bad people; I just bring out the bad in them. It doesn't matter, it shouldn't matter…

At last my stop arrives and I step onto the wet, hard concrete. I didn't have much to cover myself, so I let my body drench in the cold rain that pierced my body. After the long stuffy bus ride, I would now have to walk another half an hour back to the house.

The screaming starts as I took my first step in the house.

"Where were you!"Akito shrieked, her hair was a mess and her eyes showed extreme frustration. Did I miss anything, it isn't usually her screaming?

"You were supposed to be here for the meeting. It was _today_!" she gave a shriek of frustration especially at my aloofness. The main house was –as a figure of speech- my set, and it was about time I began acting.

"I'm sorry… There was…too much going on today," I wore a mask of kindness and regret, and placed a hand on the side of her face, "Will you brief on what you spoke of?"I hinted, damn, I would have to act for a bit longer today. Yuki-kun, Kyo-kun, and their new little toy Honda-san stood near the doorway, showing signs of annoyance. It was more like, _why doesn't he just remember? _ The rest of the Zodiac were in the room peering through because of curiosity although I'm pretty sure they already knew what was going on.

I lightly kiss Akito-sama's forehead and whisper, "I won't forget again. Will you forgive me?" Saying things softly helped, and made me seem vulnerable. Akito-sama enjoyed being in power, control so I surrendered myself to her.

She held me there for a moment and whispered back, "Don't forget about me…" I was taken aback by the desperation she held in her voice. So I whispered truthfully this time.

"I won't"

With permission I retired to my room, with the promise of Ayame-san briefing me on the meeting. I glanced at my calendar, it was almost New Year's, the time of the year I hated the most. I slugged the bag off of my shoulder and onto the bed. A creak sounded behind me, and I turned around slowly already knowing that someone was following me upstairs. I faked that darn awful smile again.

"Yes Yuki-kun?"

He sighed. I don't know why I faked the smile, almost everyone knew that I didn't mean it, yet I kept of perusing this lie.

"I know you hate it when everyone's around, but can you save us all the trouble and just attend the meeting?"

"I forgot Yuki-kun I'm sorry…" His eyes shone with rage for a few seconds, but he shut them tight in order to control his angry.

"Yeah I get it. But know this, it's bothersome for us all because Akito gets furious when you _forget_," he said frowning. I knew Yuki-kun wasn't the type to lose his anger; it was just me who made him like that. The hate did not come from Yuki-kun himself, but from the cursed spirit of the rat. He left my room stomping like a child just a bit, and leaving the atmosphere hanging. Ah… such a headache today was, even the college wasn't as relaxing as I hoped it to be. I closed my eyes, and sank into a dark sleep, dreaming of the past.

_I was only 7 the day my parents died. They were murdered, or suicide, or forced to die or maybe even all three…_


	4. The Past

過去 The Past

_I was only 7 the day my parents died. They were murdered, or suicide, or forced to die or maybe even all three…_

It's not like this was a surprise, an attack out of the blue. I knew there was an explosion underneath the tranquillity, like the calm before the ragging storm. I knew it was bound to appear, and especially now. My parents were not very far apart in both age and minds. They both knew each other quite well, and adapted to each others weaknesses and strength. Still I could understand why they had lashed at each other with words that hurt more than sticks and stones. My father, a quite established businessman, had everything. Intelligence, power, money, wealth, reputation. As I was young and could not see the real things that made one person truly happy, and did not realize that my father did not have any of those things. He had never fallen in love, never felt alive or truly happy. He did not bear any close friends, and did not understand the importance of being a dad rather than a father. Perhaps this was why he felt so empty, empty enough to hurt others to feel content. To feel terrible full in control and power, the wonderful lush of sin and cruelty. Every night my father came home, drowned in alcohol and whipped his angry out on me. This is the very reason I lost my innocence at a very young age. I still have scars lying in some parts of my body. This is a secret I have not shared with a single soul. Not even with the sanctuary of my very being. Though I have barely stopped reminding myself, of my cursed self, spirit, and past. My mother suffered from the same consequences but the only difference is that she deserved them. I'm not going to go ahead and say I haven't done anything to deserve his beatings and...such but, I'm sure 90% of the time, it wasn't even cause of my rebellious actions. My mother on the other hand, was a sex crazed bitch, who wanted nothing but sex –obviously -, money, popularity and was obsessed in her own vanity. I hate them both, from the bottom of my soul. I wished for nothing but a normal family, and if I could have one wish. It would be to erase their existence from my life. Though my mother wasn't as bad as my father. She had some sense of motherhood. We celebrated birthdays at times, and cooked dinner at the most. When my father hurt me, she stood by, with horror in her eyes, crying, and I hated her for that. She never did anything for me, yet I couldn't help but forgive her. Now I see how stupid I was. She was maybe the only thing that I could've known as good back then. But on my 9th birthday, my birthday present was their death.

Dad came home extra early, in the evening, and began complaining why he wasn't invited to his own son's birthday. Mother stood up for me, just one sentence was all it took. Apparently my father wasn't the only one she was screwing. He was pissed off, humiliated, and hurt. He took the knife I cut my birthday cake with and cut open mother throat. I hid in the closet from the moment he walked in, and I could not scream. My heart was in my throat and screaming would probably be the stupidest idea in that situation. My mother lay there in a pool of her own blood, lifeless, with her eyes dead on me. My father started laughing like a mad-man, but soon his laughter turned into howls of agony and pain. He took the knife, and before he cut open his own throat he gave me one last glance in the closet, and smiled, saying one line that would scar my dreams, and mind for the rest of my life.

_I'll come back for you._

_Author's note:_

_Hey everyone. Just to let you know, I write a chapter per day with the exception of weekends and exams week which is coming up. So if you don't see new chapters I haven't died or anything, I'm just busy. I know Kurogane's (which is the narrator's name) past is depressing don't worry. There's going to be tons of comedy. I haven't yet, but I'll mention some appearances of Kurogane soon, so stay tune! Hope you like it! Please send reviews, I'll actually listen to you guy *wink*. Anyways, bai for now_


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